Like a lot of other institutions in the metropolitan area, the Bingo Club generates controversy. There are accusations that profits wend their way across oceans to support the "extreme" political positions of the club's owner. These accusations raise an issue that is regularly faced by urban photographers: How do you portray the worldwide money web in which many institutions that stand on modest corners in modest urban neighborhoods participate?
You have to depend on words to tell the story of international connectedness. But then, photographical images tell the story in a different and complementary way. I was moved, for example, by this picture of the Bingo Club. It reeks of the ordinary. There is little that is visually compelling, other than the palm trees whose fronds are still trussed together in a comical way. But wait! Profits from this club (allegedly) are fanning fires in a major international conflict. The image speaks loudly about the fact that actors in international stories, in their own local contexts, do not advertise their roles.
